Drugs, humans and wild animals. One can buy and trade anything from the comfort of a luxury hotel in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ), for a price. Myanmar, Laos and Thailand have long been the epicentre of organised crime in Southeast Asia, with the region labelled as the ‘Golden Triangle’ of crime, after the notorious SEZ in northern Laos. However, an industry that was built around illicit gambling, often targeted to a specific Chinese market, has shifted and ballooned over the past four years into a vast array of criminal activity that stretches across the globe. Criminal operations range from sophisticated cyber scams to drug and wildlife trafficking, illegal gambling, and money laundering, underpinned by transnational human trafficking and forced labour. Criminal groups then use legitimate businesses to conceal illegal activity, often choosing sites where large numbers of people or high foot traffic can occur without drawing attention, such as casinos, hotels, resorts and call centres.

Entering the global stage

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a fundamental shift in criminal activity in the region. Initially, the pandemic disrupted criminal operations in the Golden Triangle, forcing casinos and luxury hotels to close while foreign travel was restricted. However, the pandemic also brought to the forefront rapid technological innovations that people around the world suddenly relied upon – for work, for entertainment, and even for finding love – providing a wealth of opportunities to enterprising criminal actors. As a result, criminal activity in the Golden Triangle moved online and went global. Illegal casinos shifted to online gambling platforms, while empty casinos and hotels were turned into highly militarised scam compounds, where hundreds of thousands of human trafficking victims are held and forced to run complex scams targeting global victims.

Opportunities abound

Organised crime in Southeast Asia thrives due to porous borders, weak governance, and unstable security conditions. Furthermore, the region is interconnected by the Mekong River, which flows from China to the South China Sea. On one hand, the river connects key drug producers in Laos and Myanmar with large markets in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. On the other, criminal networks are able to access different operating environments along the river, and capitalise on loopholes in varying regulatory frameworks, or expand into territories with weaker security and rule of law. Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, for instance, criminal groups have increasingly shifted their bases of operations to Myanmar’s Shan State, out of reach of security forces attempting to clamp down on criminal activity elsewhere, and have taken advantage of unregulated port facilities and markets in rebel-held regions. As a result, the 100 km stretch of the Mekong River which serves as the border between Myanmar and Laos has transformed into a lucrative industry of synthetic drug production, illegal casinos, online gambling and money laundering.

An allusive enemy

With virtual impunity and the world at their fingertips, organised crime in Southeast Asia has truly become a global enterprise. Drugs produced in Myanmar and Laos are distributed throughout the region, and as far afield as Japan and Australia. The Philippines, among other countries in the region, is battling a proliferation of casinos catering to illegal gamblers, or operating as fronts for cyber scams. As just one example, in March 2024, police raided an office complex posing as an online gaming company in Bamban, north of Manila, freeing hundreds of people who were forced to work on pig butchering scams. The vast majority of the victims were foreigners, prevented from leaving by having their passports confiscated, and forced to work under the threat of physical violence. Meanwhile, governments around the world must contend with a new threat actor draining millions from their citizens’ savings accounts each year.

Within the Golden Triangle, however, there is little to stem illicit activity. China has seen some success in applying pressure on its regional neighbours to clamp down on crime within their jurisdictions, while international institutions like Interpol have arrested thousands in cross-border operations. However, criminal justice initiatives can only extend so far, typically falling short of addressing the problem in volatile regions like Myanmar. Organised crime is now so vast and lucrative that illicit revenue far outweighs legal business in northern Laos and Shan State in Myanmar, undermining state institutions, driving corruption, and lowering political will in those countries to implement reforms.